Any self-respecting woman would pretend not to understand that revolting creep, and would move her chair away to avoid getting groped.
I prefer to think that Mrs. Abe simply didnât want to waste her breath speaking to a buffoon.
She is obviously a very smart woman. Making the best of a bad seat assignment.
Who was on the other side of her?
Chiselinâ Trump: âYou know Abe, your wife Mary Todd is in such good shape. Beautiful.â
Trump described the wife of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as a âterrific woman, but doesnât speak English.â
Akie Abe described the husband of Melania Trump as a âhorrible man who doesnât speak Japanese.â
I pretend not to speak English when I sit next to my Trump-supporting relatives, so I completely understand.
Trump described the wife of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as a âterrific woman, but doesnât speak English.â
What a petty little man. âSheâs a terrific woman.â Period. Just stop there. No need to add a tiny little dig you boorish and repugnant shitgibbon.
You are absolutely right. Thatâs what I would do. And I wouldnât make eye contact, either.
Iâve got $5 says she knows and speaks more English than Trump speaks Japanese.
âTrump is a bit of a boor and doesnât speak any Japanese.â
Maybe she did not want to arm wrestle, be judged like so much horse flesh, or be groped. His reputation is well known.
Itâs quite simple. Show respect, get respect.
My take is that Trump was trying to make an excuse for himself for getting up and going to Putin and staying there an hour, a reason that didnât involve an improper relationship with him. Abandoning a person who wouldnât speak English to him would hardly be an issue to a supporter who wants to make English the official language here.
Speculation: If the First Lady said hello in her native tongue, which seems likely, that might have been enough for Trump to dismiss her English abilities as non-existent. In my experience the Japanese culture really emphasizes politeness and she may not have wanted to make him feel uncomfortable by correcting him to his face, especially if they were using translators anyway. Now, a functioning State Dept advising a functioning President would have let him know just what to expect from his dinner companions, and safe areas to make small talk. If anything got lost in translation, it was there.
Putin himself is proficient in English and is often heard correcting his own translators, but he almost never speaks English in public.
That is because speaking only in your language and using translator can be a power move of domination.
Hey Trump! The First Lady of Japan just owned you!
Hell, Iâve got $5 that says she speaks better English than Trump!
There are probably two explanations. One, as you said, is that this gave Trump an excuse to get up and go to Putin. The other is that Trump is an oaf who isnât really that interested in speaking to women as equals or hearing what they might have to say.
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Yeah I saw that speech on youtube, her English skills were mediocre. But this is a deliberate display of non-fluency, it would be considered unseemly for a Japanese Prime Ministerâs wife to be too fluent in Japanese. This is one of those sociocultural things. The Prime Minister went to school and worked in the US, and is presumably fluent. He was required to know English for work, but still uses translators in diplomatic situations. Akie is a socialite and has no professional need for English. If she made public displays of high fluency, she would be considered âcontaminated by foreign influences.â
Nekobasu is for loving, not grabbing.
Donald, Abe-san did not speak with you precisely because she does understand you.
On the other hand, her husband is a dolt, the Japanese Dubya, and the less commingling of idiots the better.
My DH did lots of business with the Japanese in the early 80âs. His favorite translation story is that when he told a joke in English, all the Japanese in the room laughed. When the joke was translated, they all laughed again.